I would like to update this with thoughts from the Florida Panthers / New Jersey Devils Game 7.
Join me, won't you?
NEWEST UPDATES FIRST
Shake 'em up, boys. Thanks to Eklund for hooking me up with the credentials. Good night!
16:13 Oh man... bad giveaway. And it's over. Devils gather and the unused rats litter the ice. Big crowd stays for the ovation. Classy South Florida move.
18:58 A section of fans near press row starts a MAAAAAAARTY chant. AND IT GROOOOOWS
20:00 This crowd is loud. This is a serious crowd. I'm really impressed with this crowd. If I wanted to marry this crowd's daughter I would ask it's permission, because I respect it.
DOUBLE FREE HOCKEY
How can you tell it's Double OT? The mood of the National Media sitting next to me just went from "What a game!" to "Seriously, when can I leave?"
Hacks grousing about when they can start drinking while delirious fans almost throw up with tension. BECAUSE IT'S THE CUP.
END OF 1ST OT -- 2 NJ / 2 FLA
4:22 At some point, someone is going to make a mistake. But both Jose and Marty have the Eye of the Tiger so far.
9:41 BTW this is the first Game 7 OT in Panthers history. You've come a long way, baby! PA Announcer is going to have a nervous breakdown before it's over. "You're doing great!" He's going to be like Jenny in walking on the balcony railing in Forrest Gump if they lose.
10:36 This transformed into a gal dern helluva hockey game. Back and forth. Great work down low by both defenses. Getting into lanes.
14:15 Panthers hanging on... barely. Need to retilt the ice.
15:00 Jose earning his pesos. Massive stops here. This is the kind of game that mints fans if you are the Panthers.
17:04 Marty is a shooting gallery. Devils have life. This just got end to end. In the parlance of our modern era: Sh-t just got real...
Versteeg in the box. PP.
OVERTIME
Seriously... Parise and Kovy are completely absent. We have a Ferris Bueller situation. Biggest thing going for Devils is the intermission. Florida had them in the Figure 4 Leg Lock. Devs barely grabbed the ropes. Let's see what the mood is coming into OT.
One day, I will die. When that happens I will know that's I've seen an NHL Playoff Game 7 Overtime live. This makes me happy.
END OF 3RD -- 2 NJ / 2 FLA
:17.5 Marty comes up large as the Devils seem really content to choke this one up.
2:07 Devs hanging by a moment. Very close to blowing this.
3:28 DAT'S A GOAL. Goc crashes the net like a 19 year old at his high school girlfriends prom and buries it. Roof explodes. An endangered species of mosquito dies from the shockwave in the Everglades next door.
3:48 Save of the game by Marty but the Devs Toss It Up Tupac style for a delay of game. This. Is. The Game.
5:32 BTW... Invisible Children just named Ilya Kovalchuck their new spokesman. KOVY 2012.
8:09 Something's got to give down low for Florida. Completely controlling tempo.
10:27 Massive chance in front of Marty goes wide. If the Devils go to the box in the next 10 they are in real trouble. Getting WAY outworked.
13:10 Cats have come alive Pet Cemetery style. PA Announcer is on the verge of tears. It's like a church tent revival.
14:49 Weiss buries one over Marty's shoulder and we have a new hockey game. Crowd is insane right now.
15:16 Teams trading penalties. 4-3 now
17:15 REF, YOU SUCK! is the chant. And the Ref responds with a make up call. Next chant: WE'RE STILL MAD! BUT WE PROBABLY SHOULDNT HAVE YELLED!
18:10 ATTICA! ATTICA! Fans are about to prison riot after a goal is waved off in favor of goaltender interference penalty.
20:00 PA Announcer will mow your lawn if you scream. Seriously. He's begging. Just write your address on a piece of paper and leave it with Will Call.
THIRD PERIOD
If there is one thing I can say for the Florida Panthers franchise it's that they have their chants down. There is nothing more infuriating than a crowd that doesn't have a dominant chant.
For example, the Sharks fans somehow do not have this figured out yet.
The one encouraged by the jumbotron was "Let's Go SH-aaa-AARKs CLAP CLAP, CLAPCLAPCLAP" but the crowd would periodically jump in with a "Let's Go Sharks! Let's Go Sharks! Let's Go Sharks". It's embarrassing.
Seriously, if I ran a franchise this would be a priority.
It's like the broken window theory of crime. If someone sees that a broken window goes unfixed than they are more likely to commit a theft. If people see people stealing things then they are more likely to rob people. Robbing people leads to rape and rape leads to murder.
Which brings me back to hockey chants.
If you, as a franchise, don't have a galvanizing chant your crowd isn't as focused. If they aren't as focused it's harder to generate on-ice adrenaline. In a game of funny bounces... that's the difference between winning and losing.
FIX YOUR CHANTING CLAP CLAP, CLAPCLAPCLAP
END OF 2ND -- 2 NJ / 0 FLA
1:20 Can't blame the fans here. They've gone bannanas over 2-3s three times in a row.
4:05 Fans getting restless. The last time this kind of expectation was met with such listless boring nonsense, Jar Jar Binks was involved.
6:01 The PA announcer is literally going to start paying people to yell. Seriously, he has $47 in ones.
6:47 Remember that storyline the final season of the Sopranos when Tony was in a coma for four episodes and kept dreaming about all sorts of stupid nonsense that had no relevance to the actual plot? That's this period. I'm waiting for Steve Buscemi to show up in a tux.
7:42 Weiss just had a lucid dream about a forecheck.
8:37 Snore passes to snooze. Everyone falls asleep.
9:32 Panthers unraveling like the Sweater Song. Big stop by Theodore after a bad giveaway.
10:45 Gionta picks up the garbage and tosses it behind Theodore. 2-0. Cats need one more comeback.
13:04 Going from the end of the NYR game to this would be like coming down from a medicinal grade cocaine high with a fistful of ambien.
16:47 Lots of Center Ice back and forth. The PA announcer is really trying to get folks out of their seats. But with no shots on goal it's hard for the FLA faithful to blow a casket screaming for ANOTHER competent D to D pass
20:00 PA announcer begging fans to get back to their seats. With the NYR-Sens game over, all eyes are on Sunrise.
SECOND PERIOD
Growing up a Penguins fan in South Florida, the signature sports disappointment in my life came during Game 7 on the Eastern Conference Finals. It was like a wave, one moment, no one you know gives a rat's ass about hockey. Four months later, you are getting hit in the ass with rats on the bus ride to school.
I hated the Panthers. More than any other franchise.
Then the last 15 years happened.
A lot of people poop on South Florida as the worst sports market in America. And that is not undeserved, but they have had just cause to stay away from games.
In fact, to say the southern hockey fans are fickle is really just to say that the fans are not deluded enough to shovel money into an incompetent and insulting management system. Under the current regime, real fans left their living room and made their way to Sunrise. A real passion is in the building.
Watching this G7, I can't help but root for the Cats. Even if I still have rat mark scars...
END OF 1ST -- 1 NJ / 0 FLA
:20 Continuem remains intact as NJ kills. Somewhere, the Doctor wipes his brow.
2:17 MASSIVE chance for FLA on the PP. This crowd is ready to do a backflip and rip a hole in space/time.
4:40 Panthers controlling play with a solid center ice advance passes. Marty giving up the buzz word of the 2012 playoffs... juicy rebounds.
10:30 Can't put my finger on it, but I think Brouder is off. He seems a little jumpy. Threw a puck back up ice on the PP that could have been held for a change.
12:44 Hooking call on Kulikov to stop the 4 on 4 break away. NBI- Nothing But Ice situation for Devs.
13:55 5 on 5 scrum! S---t's going down in clay class! Can't tell you the difference in crowd tonight. They are actually alive. Normally FLA fans are steady parade of office friends who got free tickets and trophy wives. Only cheers are for goals. Actual playoff atmosphere.
Night and day from SJ game 5.
Those folks are beaten dogs. Dead silent after going down one.
15:37 Cats without a shot on goal. But it doesn't look tremendously lopsided. They need to test Marty though soon. See what he's made off tonight.
18:05 Collision mid-ice. We've officially entered "the Panters might not be ready for this game" territory
18:31: Goal NJ. Crowd still juiced. They need to stop the bleeding and get in out of the zone.
Pre-Game: PA announcer relentlessly pushing the inferiority complex of FLA fans. The house is loud. Basically the equivalent of showing wedding photos to an unmarried female friends of uglier girls they went to high school with.
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